Kicking off the night were female-fronted Poughkeepsie five-piece, We Are The In Crowd. It has become apparent that pop-punk bands fronted by women are often accompanied by a caution sign, following the recent collapse of Paramore’s seemingly tight formation, not forgetting the fear that they’ll simply be a blatant rip off. This lot, however, weren’t an exhausted carbon copy – far from it in fact.
Something which separates the two apart is the on stage chemistry. Front woman Taylor Jardine has charisma and stage presence, but not at the expense of the rest of the band. Perhaps this is because it’s not just Jardine that takes to the vocals, so the spotlight is distributed rather nicely. Their sound is fairly generic pop punk, but don’t be quick to take this as a negative comment, it simply means they’re unlikely to struggle to find a decent sized following – something which already seems to be manifesting itself as they are soon to embark on their own headlining UK tour in April.
Next up to the stage were The Maine, who were celebrating their fifth birthday. The ever so confident John O’Callaghan seemed like an interesting mix of Tyson Ritter (All-American Rejects), Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) and, oddly, Ian Curtis (Joy Division). Ritter, for his boyish charm, Lazzara, for his addiction to swinging his microphone and wrapping it around his neck and Curtis for his electro-pop movement – all in all a pretty rock ‘n’ roll combination there. Music-wise, the fan pleasers came in the form of “My Heroine” and “These Days”, the latter being a song that translates very well live. Despite O’Callaghan’s theatrics and numerous declarations of how sexy he was feeling, it was bassist Garrett Nickelson who kept many of the crowd’s attention with his child-like enthusiasm and energy – all of which could well be the reason why the band won Alternative Press’ best live act in 2010.
All Time Low were ready in the wings, charged up with dick jokes and sexual innuendo, a funny, if not slightly cringe-worthy aspect if you were to take into account the parent to child ratio. Supported by the back drop of three separate lighting boards which were aglow with dirty words, frontman Alex Gaskarth and his side-kick Jack Barakat were reminiscent of a young Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus, bouncing off each other’s daft remarks, they’re clearly still the best of friends. Their rise to fame is quite apparent, with the queues reached the circumference of the building twice and consisted of kids that had been there since 10am. The fan reaction was astounding, they really have built up what can only be described as a cult following. Barakat spent the night having bras thrown in his direction which he went on to hang off his microphone stand. They kicked off their set with new single “Time-Bomb”. Its beat set off a wave of bouncy exhilaration as the crowd recognised the introductory chords. This song sounds much better live than on the record, which was a nice surprise.
They played a nice mix of old and new with the likes of “Weightless”, “Damned If I Do Ya, Damned If I Don’t” and “Stella” from their 2009 album “Nothing Personal”. “Poppin’ Champagne” and “Six Feet Under the Stars” from their first full length “So Wrong, It’s Right” were also aired, not forgetting a soulful rendition of “Remembering Sunday” where Gaskarth took centre stage with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a spotlight. The favourite of the night was left predictably until last but was well worth the wait, “Dear Maria, Count Me In” is an anthem, a piece of pop punk genius if you will, and the crowd lapped it up until the final note.
Review By: Philippa Neesham
